Isotope 217 was a jazz-fusion band from Chicago in the late 90s/early 00s. A product of the talent-laden Wicker Park scene of the time, Isotope shares three members with Tortoise. Like most of the music produced by this scene, Isotope’s music draws from multiple sources: jazz, funk, rock, and ambient are all on hand. Of all of co-leader Rob Mazurek’s projects this one displays the most electric Miles Davis influence. This track features guitarist Jeff Parker’s amazing solo abilities. Tune in and jam out!
Kraftwerk are true modern music pioneers and innovators. No group has done more for the enduring legacy of machine and computer based music than them. Their legacy shows that technology driven music can be timeless. With this example, the title track from their 1981 masterpiece, “Computer World” and its emphasis on a computer and corporate based world, one could argue that they were modern day prophets. If you like this track you should definitely listen to the rest of the album. You will probably find some familiar sounds in it as it is one of the most sampled albums in history.
The Black Dog is an electronic music act based out of London. Originally a trio, two of their members broke off an became Plaid. They are purveyors of a style (unfortunately) named Intelligent Dance Music, or IDM. The concept behind this genre is electronic music that is meant to be listened to as opposed to danced to. This style was a popular feature of many rave “chill out” rooms where participants could unwind a bit but still enjoy synthesizer tones, harmonies and crazy beats. This comes from Black Dog’s criminally underrated second LP, “Temple of Transparent Balls”. Tune in and chill out.
Sun Ra was a keyboardist, composer, arranger, conductor, philosopher, afro futurist, and musical legend. He has left his mark on nearly every genre. If you haven’t listened to any of his recordings, you need to get your life right! Here’s a catchy way to start. Sign up!
Minutemen were a punk rock band from San Pedro, California. They were part of the late 70s and early 80s wave of the music to emerge from the West Coast. Born from teenage aspirations and determination by their two singer-songwriters, D. Boon and Mike Watt, they have become one of the most inspirational bands of post punk and indie rock music. This is taken from their two LP opus “Double Nickels on the Dime” which has a 33 1/3 book about it as well as a graphic novel that depicts each track. You may recognize this track as the opening theme to the show “Jackass”. Keep your head up as we survive in our environments.
Here’s a fairly relevant tune from Brian Eno. I think this reflects a lot of the mental madness people have to face these days. It’s a personal highlight from Eno’s classic album “Another Green World”, the final release from his trilogy of vocal records recorded and released at the beginning of his solo career. If you find yourself with too much time and not enough music, you should definitely listen to the whole album!
People all over the world are staying at home due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This is leading to some interesting revelations about just how much toilet paper people need. Here’s a fun little ditty from The Smiths you can sing along to in efforts to calm yourself down. Stay healthy and safe!
Wire are the ultimate art school band. No other band has strived to create challenging as well as pleasing music as art than these guys. A lot has been made of their amazing 70s records, which ran the gamut from punk rock to avant garde music, but not a lot of love is ever shown for their late 80s material. This song is taken from their 1987 come-back record, “The Ideal Copy”. Never content to look backward, upon reuniting after six years Wire refused to play their old material. Opting to only present their new songs, they were often derided by their own fans at shows. Blurring the lines between guitars and keyboards, “Ahead” encapsulates their new direction with a surge of energy that can still be felt 33 years later. What’s more, they’ve just released their 17th full length and will tour once more.
Miles Davis’ 1970 album “Bitches Brew” is a mystical as its cover art. It is dynamic, dark and brooding. It’s a marvel of 20th century music production and post production. It is emotional, meditative and enigmatic. Take a sip of the first track and see if you catch a buzz.
Time has served the legacy of Coil well. They were expert sound designers as well as queer Dark Magick masters. “Teenage Lightning” serves as the quasi theme song to their 1991 masterpiece “Love’s Secret Domain”. Not only is this a fantastic industrial-era record, but one of the best psychedelic full lengths of all time. Unlike a lot of contemporary recordings, LSD transends rave culture trappings and achieves something truly cohesive and timeless.
Both members, John Balance and Peter Christopherson, are now dead. The fate of their recordings seems to be in indefinite limbo. This is bad, in that any further reissuing of their work will be dubious at best. This is also kind of good, in that a large chunk of it is now available on archive.org for free. Coil is dead. Long live Coil!
Public Enemy and their original production unit, The Bomb Squad, were a very special thing in the late 80s/early 90s. They combined politically charged lyrics with dense, sample and loop based tracks. Their influence on Hip Hop was immediate. Their first couple of albums being sampled on influential albums by N.W.A. and The Beastie Boys. Here’s the opening to their third, possibly most incidiary album, Fear of a Black Planet. Enjoy!
Talk Talk is a very rare specimen of a band, in that they got progressively better as they went along. Orginally something of a new wave twin to Duran Duran, they quickly broke away into more and more experimental material. By their fourth LP, “Spirit of Eden”, they proposed zero singles from it to their record label. A compromise was made in making a song about heroin addiction available, but there isn’t a lot of room in the charts for such material. “Ascension Day” is from their final LP, “Laughing Stock”. By this point they were not really recording songs anymore, but bringing in studio musicians to record them jamming with certain perimeters in place (tempo, key, etc.). They would then build songs out of hundreds of hours of music recorded this way. The results are astounding. While “Laughing Stock” was a flop at the time, it has since been heralded by critics and musician alike. It is considered one of the cornerstones of the “post-rock” genre. Singer-songwriter Mark Hollis retired from music after recording one solo album after the demise of Talk Talk and died in 2019. Let the ethereal vibes on this one be a tribute to his musical legacy.
Lee “Scratch” Perry is a certified reggae legend. He has remained relevant from ska inception until present day. He helped Bob Marley and the Wailers ascend to greatness. He revolutionized dub music. He built his own studio and then burned it down. He made a record with techno poppers Yello. He is a self made mystic and larger than life personality. This tune features howling wolves, ladies yelling, Augustus Pablo on melodica and an awesomely boastful line, “When I shit my enemies cry/When I speak they die”. Vibrate on!
Mouse on Mars are an electronic music duo from Düsseldorf, Germany. To say they are creative would be a massive understatement! For over 25 years they have pushed their sound to its most experimental limits. They also help develop music making apps that are super cool. They’ve made one-off records with members of Kraftwerk, The Fall and Stereolab. They are studio wizards as well as one of the best live electronic acts you can go see. Here’s a song a from their 1995 album, Iaora Tahiti. It features more than a modest dose of reggae influence. Turn it up and vibe out!
Greater Than One were a husband and wife duo from London who are best known for their early rave hits. Before that they made music in the more industrial/EBM mode. With track titles such as “All the Masters Licked You” and “I Don’t Need God” Greater Than One were in a much more into social criticism than their party loving peers. Happy Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Keep striving for that mountain top!
Tangerine Dream is one of the first electronic groups to break into the Rock genre. Founded by the late, great Edgar Froese, Tangerine Dream has gone through many line-up changes. It continues to function to this day through his son, Jerome. They went on to provide soundtracks for many Hollywood films, most notably for “Risky Business”. From their first recordings in 1969, they operated on the cutting edge of synthesis technology into the 1990s. Technology aside, Froese never abandoned his first love, the guitar. Here is the the title cut from their 1976 North American breakout record “Stratosphere”. Kick back and enjoy the trip!
Dimensional Holofonic Sound is the audio brainchild of video wizard Ben Stokes. DHS is very much in the industrial/EBM sampling beat vein of Front 242 and the like. Being from Chicago, Stokes also exhibits a healthy dose of House music influence here. This song went from an underground, self-released tune to international dance hit. Scores of remixes have been birthed from it. While money grubbing evangelists may be an easy comedy target, Stokes’ sampling proves well structured and witty. Follow the bouncing synth!
The end of the year always seems to bring with it a near intolerable amount of reflection. Even though we here at Spacey King HQ don’t really believe that decades begin on year zero, this year seems particularly loaded with sentiment with the end of the teens and beginning of the twenties.
This week, it seems fitting to present one of the most haunting songs ever released. “Decades” is the last song on “Closer”, Joy Division’s second and last LP. It was released two months after singer-songwriter Ian Curtis hung himself in his home on the eve of their first North America tour.
Awash in Martin Hannett styled reverb, Curtis’ voice seem to be recalling life from the hereafter. The imagery of lost young men is very poignant. The sparse instrumentation, heavy on the electronics, add to the cold and still atmosphere. Turn out the lights for this one. See you in 2020!
